


Call Me ‘Kid’

by AM3mb3r123



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Harley Keener Needs a Hug, Nonbinary Harley Keener, They/Them Pronouns for Harley Keener, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25052389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AM3mb3r123/pseuds/AM3mb3r123
Summary: Harley Keener has never been referred to without a gendered term, until Tony breaks into their garage. Years later, after Tony starts calling them “young man,” Harley knows what they have to do.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51





	Call Me ‘Kid’

Harley paced back and forth in the garage, hand to their chin, eyebrows knit in concentration and worry. 

It’d been nearly six years since Tony busted into their garage. That night and the days after it felt like a dream to young Harley. They’d always liked Iron Man, sure, but the man behind the mask was much more interesting. For awhile, it felt like Harley had a cool secret—a kind of dad person, who was also a superhero. 

But Harley couldn’t keep Tony a secret, even if they’d wanted to. It was Tony who insisted on meeting the family. With his large personality and genuine compassion, Tony had charmed the whole household in a matter of minutes. Harley’s biggest secret was out and they felt relieved. There’s too much stress with keeping something big like that under wraps.

Harley felt a little weird sharing Tony, but they felt weirder when, a couple years down the line, Tony switched from calling them “kid” to “young man.” It made their skin crawl. Here was Tony, the first person in their life to not make a big deal out of gender, switching to mentioning it every time he addressed them. 

However, Harley pushed that feeling way down. It must’ve just been something they ate that made their stomach do flip flops. Every other person called Harley some variation of “little man,” why should Tony be any different?

Mrs. Keener often talked about the “metal man” and pestered Harley to contact Tony about college, now that they were in high school. Abby was much more chill about the situation, though she sometimes led tours through “The Garage that Iron Man Destroyed” for her classmates. Harley was usually in there when said tours were happening and tried to correct any over-dramatization.

Harley had spent a lot of the last six years growing and thinking, aside from the repressed gender uncomfortableness. They’d developed a public persona with a literal ton of confidence, for starters. Everyone in Rosehill knew that Harley Keener could charm anyone. Harley’d wink and grin and “darlin” and it seemed like the world blushed and swooned. But they weren’t cocky about it. Harley knew when to turn the persona off.

After trying to help Tony through those panic attacks, Harley’d learned all they could about helping people through them. It started with the aforementioned panic and anxiety attacks, but it soon turned into researching more and more about mental health and helping those around them. It was common knowledge at their school that Harley wouldn’t judge you for having a breakdown, but rather, talk you through it. 

These traits combined together made Harley stand out. They weren’t popular, per say, as popularity wasn’t the focus of the teens these days, but Harley was well known enough. They loved the people they interacted with, but every time Harley’s “manliness” was brought up, they grimaced internally. 

It was through the mental health research, one day, that led Harley to a website for LGBTQ+ youth. They almost clicked away. Harley knew they were pansexual, but didn’t like to delve too far into other subjects. But then they scrolled, just a little, and found gender-dysphoria. That’s how they figured themself out. After that, it took a lot of interestingly worded google searches, a trip through Tumblr, and YouTube videos played at low volume, but Harley got to the bottom of the general uneasiness. 

As it turned out, most boys didn’t usually internally cringe when their gender was brought up. Who’d’a thunk? 

But finding words like nonbinary and gender-non-conforming didn’t help the day to day struggle of misgendering. While Harley knew of other LGBTQ+ kids at their school and continued to flirt with both girls and boys, they’d never met another person who didn’t have a gender. They were highly afraid to come out officially, with a pronoun change and everything. 

And that’s why Harley was pacing back and forth in the garage. The stress that came along with keeping such an integral part of their being under wraps was too much. Tinkering with something, anything, helped to relieve the stress, but not tonight. It was like all those years ago, keeping Iron Man a secret, but this time it was on a much larger scale.

What Harley was truly contemplating was calling Tony. The two didn’t normally speak about personal stuff, but Tony had assured them that they could talk anytime. 

Harley ran their hand over their Stark Watch, taking a moment to pause over the button on the side. A shudder ran through Harley’s body as they pressed the button, call tone immediately starting. 

“Harley! What’re you doing up this late young man?” AC/DC was playing in the background, probably significantly quieter than it had been, but still loud. 

Harley cringed at the, once again, gendered term, before responding, “I’m not that young anymore, yah know?” 

“Could’ve fooled me,” Tony chuckled from the other side. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this late night, uh, interruption?” 

“I, uh,” Harley hadn’t thought this far ahead, hadn’t thought this through at all. “I just had, uh, a question?” Harley could hear Tony’s eyebrow go way up.

“A question? At midnight?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, go ahead and shoot then.”

Harley took a deep breath. Their heart was pounding harder than it ever had, even in gym class. They put a hand to the back of their neck before continuing. 

“Why’d you stop calling me ‘kid?’”

Harley could tell that wasn’t what Tony was expecting and, to be honest, it wasn’t what Harley expected to say. The sounds of tinkering on Tony’s end stopped and the music was turned all the way down.

“That’s what you needed an answer to this late?” Tony’s voice was clearer, as if he’d picked up the phone and turned off speaker.

“I mean, yeah?” Harley fidgeted, this was so unlike them. They were highly uncomfortable and began wondering if the pit in their stomach would go away if they just hung up the phone.

“Well,” Tony answered after a bit of thought. “I suppose I wanted to show that I recognized that you were growing up.” 

Harley could hear the pause at the end, the invitation to explain themself. But they couldn’t bring themself to answer. The anxiety and stress had caught up with them as they slunk to the floor, holding their breath.

“Harley,” Tony’s tone was cautious and probing. “Harley, do you want me to call you ‘kid’ from now on?” 

It took Harley a moment to process the question. 

“Yes.” 

Tony “hmphed” on the other end in affirmation, giving Harley a little bit more time. 

“Okay, Kid,” Tony continued. “You don’t have to tell me why right now, just know I’m here for you, okay?” 

“Okay,” Harley sighed into their watch. The small affirmation was all they needed right now. “I gotta go Tony, but thanks.”

“You’re welcome, kid.” 

Harley ended the call and slumped against a nearby shelf, still sitting on the floor. Sitting on the floor made every thing a little bit better.

  


It’d been a week since Harley nearly broke down in the garage. They hadn’t spoke with Tony about that night since, but knowing that Tony would call them kid instead of a gendered term helped them to get through the days. 

But it didn’t solve everything. Harley wanted to tell him every thing. They wanted to sit down and explain all the little details and the feelings and whatnot. Harley felt selfish for wanting to talk about themself so much, but when the world sees you one way and that way’s not right, something has to change. 

So Harley called Tony and asked if they could come up to New York for the weekend. Tony thought it was a wonderful idea and sent his own private jet to the little rural Rosehill Airport.

Tony made sure to give Harley the VIP treatment when they arrived. This included a personal tour of Stark Industries and all it’s glory. Except that it was unusually void of people. Sure, there were interns running around, but Tony didn’t introduce Harley to anyone.

This didn’t bother Harley, though. It’s surprisingly easy to not use pronouns when talking directly to a person. They didn’t know if this was intentional, but Harley reveled in the lack of gendered words nonetheless.

However, Harley was anxious to talk to Tony about their identity. They’d spent so much time going over what to say and how to say it. They knew that Tony would accept them and that all would be well, but every moment that they didn’t mention it was another moment being seen as a boy.

The pair made it to the living quarters soon enough, Tony rambling about how “Cap’ll call you out on language” or something like that. He had mentioned that dinner would be with Pepper and possibly some of the other Avengers. Which meant introductions. Which meant gendered language.

Tony gave a brief tour of the floor before pointing towards a door and saying the word “dinner.” He began walking in the general direction, babbling about spaghetti, but Harley’d stopped following.

“Tony, wait.” 

“Yeah kid?” Tony turned around, hands clasped in front of him.

“Before dinner, I’d like to tell yah something. It’ll be real quick, I promise,” Harley stood confidently, channeling all their usual charisma into this moment. 

“By all means, you have the floor.”

Harley took a deep breath. “The other night, when I called you, there was a little more on my mind than being called ‘kid.’ In fact, I wasn’t even going to ask about that when I called you. I didn’t even plan on calling.” 

Tony nodded along.

“The real reason was because, well, in recent years, I’ve realized something. I’ve done a lot of research and soul searching and, well, what I’m getting at is that—I’m nonbinary. I really don’t enjoy being referred to with masculine terms and would like to use they/them pronouns.” The words came out slow and steady, just as they’d practiced.

“I’m glad you told me kid, I wondered after that chat.” Tony stepped forward to put a hand on Harley’s shoulder. Harley, however, briefly hugged the man. 

“Thanks for understanding Tony,” they said as they pulled away. 

“Of course I understand, yah know why?”

“Why?”

“CuAsE wE’re cOnNEcTeD.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> Yes, I’m back on my Nonbinary Harley bullshit. (Again, I’ve got to project on something!) 
> 
> I usually get tired of coming-out fics. I, personally, hate coming out with any aspect of my identity. However, with the lack of Enby Harley (besides the few amazing fics in the tag that you should check out) I felt the need to start somewhere? There will definitely be more Enby Harley in the future lol.
> 
> Y’all know the drill, kudos, comments, etc. love y’all!
> 
> -Mem (they/them)


End file.
